The Radiant Sun
by UmbralLight
Summary: What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a strange, new world? This is a story of how a young boy overcomes obstacles as he leads a new life. Small warning: OC Self-insert
1. Introductions

Introductions: Chapter 1

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You never treasure something until you have lost it. How very true it is.

Yesterday, I was just walking down the street off to school.

Today, I'm sitting in complete, utter darkness. The last thing I remembered was screeching. Really loud screeching from behind me.

The next thing I knew, I was here. Alone, in the darkness. No food, no water. Was this the purgatory they all talked so much about? But I felt very much alive. If so, was I doomed to die in this blackness?

But I didn't. I never starved. No big ugly monster came to drag me off to who-knows-where. How I was able to survive, I did not know. But it was certainly starting to get boring in there.

I had been trapped in that hellhole for quite some time. Forced to stare into nothing. With nobody to talk to. Nothing much to do but think, mainly what I was doing there and how I would get out.

The answer came to me one day. Or maybe it was the same day, I really didn't know. Time doesn't seem very important when you have nowhere to rush to, no schedules to keep, and no clock to check it.

It was painful. The walls around me convulsed. My head felt like someone was sitting on it, after which that person decided to bounce up and down. It was pure agony. The worst part was it didn't end there. After my head, the squeezing continued on to my chest, and my tummy, and my legs. I thought my time had come. I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to my family, or to have a fulfilling life. I was about to lose something I never really treasured, something I was never thankful for: my life.

But then, I realised something. It was bright, very bright. Lots of voices, human voices, flew around, saying things I couldn't understand. I was handed over to various people. They all looked too big to be human, but my vision was also blurred, so maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me.

Later, as my vision cleared, I saw something that scared all hell out of me. Those people. Their eyes.

They were all _white_!

It was like something out of a horror movie: being surrounded by white-eyed monsters with nowhere to escape to. Well, I had no energy to run off anyway. A more logical explanation was that they were blind; maybe they all had cataracts or something. But, they couldn't _all_ be blind, right?

It soon dawned on me that these people could see just fine. They had no problems picking things up, or walking around. Featureless eyes, is that normal here?

However, the thing that shocked me the most was that it was not those people who had gotten big, rather, I had turned small. My fingers looked so stubby and fat. And I had the desperate urge to feed on something, on anything; I was very, _very_ hungry.

It was that moment that I realized what was going on: I had turned into a baby. A cute, harmless creature that signaled the start of a new life. It was horrifying, being a baby again, having to experience growing up again. Going through puberty again. And the worst part, nobody knows that I _know_ , that I'm _aware_ , and that I'm supposed to be a lot older.

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After a few days, I finally figured out my name. It was hard to recognise at first, but after a while, hearing it being directed at me over and over again, it became pretty obvious what it was. Hikaru. Hikaru Hyuuga. Which I would later learn means light, or radiance.

But wait…

Hyuuga?

Where had I heard that name before?

White-eyed people, Hyuuga surname, strange language being spoken...oh… I pieced the puzzle together and behold, I realised where I was. The _wonderful_ world of Naruto. The fact that I had become a baby suddenly paled in comparison to my being in this universe. Is it even possible, to enter a world of fiction? What would it take to get out of here?

Eventually, I decided to just accept my fate. Perhaps it was a chance for me to make up for not living life to the fullest before. Yes, that had to be the explanation, however illogical it sounded.

In addition, I found out that while I was in that hellhole I referred to as the womb, I wasn't alone. I was sharing that space with somebody the whole time, and I never realised it! My sibling arrived just before I did, an older sister by only minutes.

Back Before, I had a sister too. However, she was the younger one, and I felt responsible for her. This time, however, my new sister was the older sibling. Would I feel the need to protect her? After all, I'm the guy, right? And technically, I was older…

You won't believe how surprised I was when I discovered my new sister's name. I considered it one of the three most surprising things that have happened to me in my new and old life, with all of them from the former, and I was still barely a week old.

Her name was Hinata Hyuuga. There was no mistaking it, she had dark blue hair, however sparse they were, and was a member of the renowned Hyuuga clan. Yep, definitely that Hinata.

So, that was it, I was officially stuck in the Naruto-verse.

The only remaining question was: _how will I decide to live this life?_

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Author's Notes: Well. There, I've done it. This idea's been hovering around in my head for months, eating away at my sanity. But when I discovered "Dreaming of Sunshine" by Silver Queen about a month back, and a few more SIs by other authors. I decided, what the heck, why not? So I decided to combine my interest in the Hyuuga clan and "what if you had a twin in the Naruto-verse?" and boom, I got this. So I hope you enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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About half a year into my "2nd chance", something started to interest me.

Chakra

Ultimately, chakra was what made this world so different from mine. It allowed people to perform feats that would be considered superhuman where I came from.

There's no single, absolute way to explain what chakra feels like. An extra limb? A foreign energy inhabiting the body? The best way would probably be to compare it to the cardiovascular system.

Why? Well, because they're so similar. Chakra flows through the whole body through a network called the chakra pathway system. Sort of like how blood is pumped around the body through the circulatory system. Also, like blood, chakra is essential for survival; without it, you die from something akin to exhaustion, hence 'chakra exhaustion'.

However, there are several things that made chakra different.

With blood, what you have is what you use. All the blood present in the body is used to carry oxygen around the body. But with chakra, you only use a fraction of it. The rest is stored away in some kind of chakra reservoir in the body, ready to be called upon at any given time.

Also, chakra can be expelled from special nodes located around the body, called tenketsu. I don't think anyone would _like_ their blood spurting out of various points of their body.

Being born into a family where everyone were either ninja or had some ninja-related skill, I would eventually need to learn how to use chakra anyway. So I decided that since I had the time, being a baby and all, I would practice using this curious new element of the world.

I started by trying to stick pieces of cloth onto my hands, after remembering the leaf sticking exercise from the series. Boy was that a bad idea. The biggest flaw in my plan was that the cloth, though lightweight, were still significantly heavier than the tiny leaves they used. After many futile attempts, I decided to turn to something easier, like sticking paper to my hands. As such, whenever nobody was around, I would take out some shreds of paper I hid under my pillow and practice using chakra.

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At around the same time, I came to realisation of a problem. In this world, everyone spoke Japanese, while I could only speak English and some Mandarin. And with language, came the problem of written Japanese. While the spoken language can be learned with some effort, learning how to write is completely different.

Japanese, arguably one of the most difficult languages to master in my previous world, was even more complicated when it came to its written forms. There was the more basic Hiragana and Katakana, and then there was Kanji. With some knowledge of the Chinese language, I expected it to be easier to learn Kanji. Oh, I had never been so wrong in my life.

The only similarity between Chinese and Kanji were in their written forms. Their words, when spoken, sounded extremely different from each other. So I, more or less, had to learn this new language from scratch.

Learning something new is hard work. Learning something new knowing your life basically depended on it, is hell. Everything, down to basic vocabulary and grammar, was very different.

But I had no choice, if I wanted to survive in this world, I would have to suck it up and give it my all.

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Soon, our third birthday arrived. Three years had passed just like that. Several relatives were around. People were chatting happily, about their recent missions and about how the clan was doing. It was also there that I met him.

Despite being our cousin, we never had the chance to see Neji until that day. He seemed… happy, like any child of age four should. He didn't have the cold, heartless look he had plastered over his face during the Chunin Exams, no, he had a warm smile that would just make any heart melt.

But, it was our third birthday, the day he would receive the branch house's cursed mark.

After the celebrations, the clan elders proceeded to brand him with the Hyuuga clan's juinjutsu. It didn't seem too painful, but everyone knows the pain doesn't come from the branding itself, but when the seal is activated. The seal really lived up to its nickname: the caged bird seal. The branch house members were like birds; they longed to be free, but the seal only cages them in and prevents them from doing so.

Then, it occurred to me that Hizashi, or uncle Hizashi, twin brother of my father, had also received the cursed seal, being the second born. Was I going to get it, too? I started to get scared. If I received the cursed seal, I would be under the control of the main house. But father wouldn't use it on me, right?

But the elders started to discuss something. Well, they seemed more like they were arguing, so maybe it was something very important.

After a while, they came to a decision: as I was the younger twin, I should be given the cursed seal. But, as I am also the only male of the two, Hinata should be given the seal. In the end they were unable to decide whether to cage me or Hinata, so the decision would be made at a later date, when we were older.

Knowing the Hyuuga elders, it was probably going to be a contest between us, to decide who the stronger one was, as they seemed to value raw power and strength in clan leaders.

That same day, several visitors arrived in Konoha. They were ninja from Kumo, in the Land of Lightning, and they had come to sign a peace treaty between the Leaf and Cloud forces. The Hyuuga clan would be hosting the guests during their stay.

That night, while I was lying in bed, I heard a sound coming from Hinata's room, which was just next to mine. It sounded like someone was at her window. While I tended to stay up late, Hinata was the sort of person who would go to sleep early; she was the nice obedient girl. So I decided to investigate, besides, her room wasn't too far from mine.

I opened her door, and froze at the scene before me: a man, wearing what seemed to be stealth clothing, was hunched over my sister. He turned around when the door opened and saw me. The look he gave me stopped me in my tracks. He gave off some sort of… energy… which was almost indescribable. I felt fear like I never had before. I could have run away. I could have screamed for help. Heck, I could've even run forward to attack the man. But I just stood there, in silence, feeling as though all the courage had been drained out of me. This is the power of a ninja's killing intent.

A scream broke me from my trance, and I realised the man was no longer in the room.

But neither was Hinata.

I rushed through the open window, desperately searching for them. By the time I had found them, though, the kidnapper was lying on the ground, motionless, and Hinata was crying in the arms of my father.

The kidnapper, he was definitely dead. But there was a very disturbing lack of blood at the scene. It probably had something to do with the Hyuuga's gentle fist. Perhaps the power and strength that the elders value so much have a purpose after all and doesn't just mean "I'm stronger, so I'm better than you".

Later, I was reprimanded by my father and some of the elders. Apparently, I was supposed to call out for help when I saw the man. If Hinata hadn't screamed that night, they probably wouldn't have been able to save her. Most of the scolding was accompanied with an "At least Hinata knew to scream".

However, before further scolding could be carried out, one of the branch house members entered the room. He brought news about the Cloud response to the attempted kidnapping. Apparently, the Cloud officials were denying their part in the act, despite the dead kidnapper being revealed as their head ninja. They even went as far as to demand the head of my father for defying the agreed terms of the treaty. Before I could hear more, however, the elders chased me out of the room. By then, the sun had already begun to rise.

And that was the last day I ever saw uncle Hizashi.

From what I could remember from before, he handed himself over in place of my father. And this was the final factor which pushed Neji towards his cold and serious personality seen during the first Chunin Exams of the series. Maybe I could, and should, have done something to stop it. Maybe if I had warned my parents about the Cloud ninja. But why would they believe a three year old boy, even if he's their own child, about something like this?

And even if I had called for help, the head ninja probably would've still died anyway. There didn't seem to be any possible way that the situation could be avoided. I decided it would just be best to move on from the incident. Neji's hatred for the main house would have to be dealt with at a later date, though.

Maybe it was because of this incident, or maybe everyone started at this age too. A few days later, our father got us to perform different exercises, from stuff that seemed like stretches to jogging around the courtyard. It was very hard and tiring training. We would spend the morning doing various stretches accompanied by a light jog, all before breakfast. After our afternoon lessons on the Japanese language, physical training continued until dinner.

However, as I was never the most disciplined person, even before, physical training proved to be very tough. I usually got the stretching positions wrong, and I sometimes slowed down during our jogs. As such, Hinata, despite being considered weak for a Hyuuga, seemed to be making more progress than me.

After a few months, our father decided to focus his attention on Hinata, not caring if I actually completed his exercises correctly or not. I was actually a little disappointed at that, but it _had_ been my fault that he chose to do this. So I made up my mind that from that day forth, I would take care of my own training, using my previous, if short, experience as a guide.

At about July that same year, we were informed by our parents that our mother was once again, pregnant. We were going to have a younger sibling! After this, I wouldn't be the youngest anymore.

And well, a new addition to the family would certainly be interesting.

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 **Author's Notes:** There you have it, chapter 2. The only reason I could publish it so fast is because I had a week off from school, and studying all the time can get a little boring. I do hope you like how I handled the cursed mark business. As for what to expect from this story, I plan to follow canon somewhat closely while letting my OC influence events along the way. That will be after I write the remaining introductory chapters, though. Expect one or two more before that. I am still open to ideas on how Hikaru would "influence" these events as there's still a bit of time until I write about them. Oh, and I changed the title and a small part of the format as I thought these would be more fitting. Till next time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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The following months went by in a flash.

Most of my time was spent on perfecting my chakra control and, to be honest, I was making good progress, considering my age.

After succeeding with paper, I started trying to stick small stones onto my palms, which turned out to be a little tricky.

Unlike paper, which had mostly flat surfaces, rocks were very rough and odd-shaped. So I had to use different amounts of chakra at different parts of the stones. But even with the added challenge, I succeeded in a matter of months. Was this normal? Maybe a child's developing body was just easier to condition.

I also took advantage of my still-developing brain to increase my knowledge. Despite having an adult mind, my brain was still the size of a three year old. I definitely wasn't a neurologist back in my world, but a growing brain should allow for easier learning, it sounded logical to me. And it _was_ true that you learn better at a younger age.

So I began to read. I read about stuff like how the second shinobi world war started and how the hidden leaf was founded.

I wanted to know everything!

Well, maybe not "everything". But I did want to find out as much as possible. Whenever my father was busy with Hinata, I would pester my mother to read to me. It was mostly history, as the history of Konoha was what I knew least about at the time.

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Near the end of March, the new addition to the family arrived.

It was a girl and they had decided to name her Hanabi. It seemed like everyone in the clan had names that referenced to either the sun or light. I did have a little sibling in my world, but I was very young and barely knew what was going on most of the time. This time round, however, I would have the chance to watch her grow up from birth and not miss any part of it.

And besides, having a younger sister meant that more of the adults' attention will be focused on her. I would then have more freedom to practice my chakra control and to do research on this world.

But, some time later, our mother became ill. It must have been a very unusual or rare illness, because even though the doctors had ninja training, even though things that could only be described as miracles frequently happened in this world, they were unable to cure her.

She became weaker with each passing day. And a month before we had even turned four, our mother had passed away.

And I did something I hadn't done since I arrived in this world. I _cried_.

Why would I cry for someone who wasn't even my real mother?

Well, she may not have been my real mother, but she had been taking care of me since I arrived. I spent almost four years with her, living together, playing together, exploring this new world with her. It was as good as having her be real mother.

It was also the first time I though about why I called Hiashi, father, and her, mother.

At first, it was to allow me to seem normal; what well-taken-care-of child wouldn't call their parents "father" and "mother"?

But after a while, I actually felt like they were becoming my real parents. Even Hiashi, the strict father of the Hyuuga main family, felt like my real father. Despite having disappointed him, he still loved me like his own. Maybe it's because to him, I _was_ his child, but I was still grateful for that. I was genuinely grateful for _both_ of them.

Then I thought about my real parents, and how I had left them. It had been so long ago, I couldn't even remember their faces any more.

What were they doing at that moment?

Were they safe?

 _Did they miss me?_

I guess I would never know.

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Barely a week after our mother died, a man was assigned to take care of Hinata and I. Well, maybe not a _man…_ he seemed more like a boy at about 16 years of age. He was also a member of the branch house. And his name was Ko.

Ko would follow Hinata and I around _everywhere._ From the moment we left our rooms at sunrise till dinner, he would be within sight of us. Though Ko would sometimes bring Hinata out of the compound sightseeing, while I stayed behind. I though that would be a great time to practice a little more, after all, I had to make up for all my slacking off in the first few months.

When March of the next year arrived, we started attending the academy. Classes were held in a large building located at the base of the Hokage mountain, which puts it at the approximate centre of the village. The Hokage's office and the mission assignment desk were located in the largest section, which had a big sign with the Kanji for fire on it. It was probably the most recognisable building in all of Konoha.

For the next seven years, Ko would take us there for lessons everyday and home afterwards.

All new students were split into two separate classes. Hinata and I, for some weird and unknown reason, were split into different classes. Well, that wouldn't change anything; I _would_ still be learning, with or without Hinata. So I just went with it.

Most lessons taught there were ones that you would find in any school. We had classes for Language, mathematics, sciences, history and even geography.

However, from our third year, there were also classes that taught us about ninjutsu. They consisted of chakra control exercises and the workings of chakra; how chakra was formed, how to gather chakra at specific parts of our body, and how to convert that chakra into ninjutsu.

I learnt that chakra was comprised of physical and spiritual energies. So to increase our chakra reserves, all we had to do was to keep training our bodies via hard physical exercises, and improving our minds via methods like meditation, studying, or just gaining experience. However, while we are able to increase our chakra reserves, there is still a limit to how far we can go. Each person has a personal, unique limit to the amount of chakra they can possess, once it is reached, no amount of training will be able to increase it.

There were also taijutsu classes, which were basically just physical education. We usually just ran around the academy grounds, and did various exercises like push ups, pull ups amongst others.

We also had the occasional sparring sessions during taijutsu class. Students would engage in a mock battles in front of the class, two at a time. Being a Hyuuga, I was able to use the gentle fist. And with it, I overwhelmed every opponent I was pitted against. My classmates actually started getting afraid of sparring with me.

They explained that it was because the gentle fist, despite being 'gentle', was actually very painful. The chakra inserted would increase the pressure in their body, causing slight stings. But at the high speeds the martial art was performed, being attacked with the gentle fist art caused aches after the battle and limbs which were used to blocked attacks would also swell a little. I should have felt bad for them, and I did. But I was also a little happy for the fact that at least I was not defenceless.

Lastly, there were genjutsu classes. These didn't teach us how to use genjutsu, but rather, they taught us how genjutsu worked. What goes in to creating an illusion, how to identify if we were caught in an illusion ourselves and how to identify if someone else was caught in an illusion. Probably the most important skill taught there was how to release genjutsu.

Genjutsu are just illusions, so it is relatively simple to break them. The simplest method would be for the victim to experience pain. If the victim's chakra flow is disrupted enough, it would also release them.

I took every chance to learn as much as I could about this world. In spite of how interesting some of these lessons were, there were still students who would skip lessons. They obviously didn't know what they were missing out on. Or maybe I was only able to appreciate learning about these chakra related stuff because of my origins. Chakra was an everyday thing for them, while I had only just recently discovered chakra upon entering this world.

Yeah, that was probably it.

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Just before my sixth year of being in the academy started, I was suddenly informed that I would be transferred to the other class. But it wasn't just me. When lessons officially began, I found that some of my previous classmates had also transferred together with me, while some members of that class took our places. What was the purpose of it? Were we sent to the better class? Or maybe it was the worse class?

But I figured it was probably the former, as when we entered the classroom, I immediately saw the ones who I recognised as the Rookie 9, the best of their year. They were all there; Shikamaru, Ino, choji, Kiba, Shino, my sister, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke.

 _Sasuke…_

He looked so… sad… and yet so angry at the same time. And he seemed so annoyed with… well, everything.

Had the Uchiha Massacre already happened?

Was I too late?

I probably couldn't have prevented it though, as it had something to do with the village elders and the Hokage and I definitely did not want to get involved with those kinds of things… yet. And with the Uchiha Massacre already carried out, I knew what would happen after, as opposed to if the massacre had not happened; there would be significant changes in the timeline. Some things were probably best left undisturbed if my future knowledge was to be of any use.

I decided that the best thing I could do was to help him, by showing him that there are people here who care about him, by trying my best to stop him from turning to the dark side.

Yes, that was the only thing I could do for him now…

Life at the academy proceeded quite smoothly afterwards.

You wouldn't believe the size of the smile Naruto had when I went forward to befriend him. He was so happy someone didn't shun him, for once.

Did I genuinely want to be his friend? Or was it just to achieve my goal of "fixing" things?

Well, at first it was just the latter, but over time, I discovered that Naruto was actually a great guy. He could be nice to you, and he would help others, even strangers, even if they didn't ask for it, as long as they needed his help.

He also pulled many very funny pranks, some stupid, some genius, but they were all equally hilarious.

Although over time, the number of pranks he pulled gradually decreased as I managed to introduce him to others like Shikamaru and Choji. They, especially Choji, were very accepting of Naruto, particularly because of Choji's… size. He would always be made fun of by other students; he was more or less an outcast, just like Naruto.

The four of us got along well. We ate together at every lunch break and got together whenever we had group assignments. Sometimes, we would get together with Hinata and some of the other girls, too.

It was also around this time that I noticed Hinata… blushing… whenever she was around Naruto. At first, I had though I was seeing things. But she _did_ grow red each time they met. I hoped it wasn't going to be a problem in the future…

I also learned that before I arrived, Hinata always won her spars. So I intended to show them that Hinata wasn't the only one they should fear, and that I was capable of beating them too.

 _Hehehe_

Then I remembered what I had told myself when I first saw Sasuke. I had wanted to help him.

So I started to talk to him, asking him about his day or if he would like to join us for lunch, those sort of things.

At first, he would ignore me.

For many months, he would ignore me.

But after some time, he started to reply. They were mostly one-worded answers or grunts, but at least they were something.

Sadly, though, he had rejected my offers every time, choosing instead to be alone.

I knew it wouldn't be easy; he had just lost his whole family and every living relative he had. But at least I was trying.

And that was how the next two years went by. Every day was spent learning more about this place and getting stronger. My chakra control was improving at a faster rate than most, if not all of the other students; I had even tried walking up the side of walls and trees!

And yes, they were successful.

Before long, the day they graduation exams was drawing near.

Things were about to get much more dangerous.

And I would have to work hard if I wanted to survive out there.

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 **Author's Notes:** And there, chapter 3. The next chapter will start having stuff like conversations, so sorry if these ones were boring, I really didn't want to drag them out for too long (where my limited writing skills wouldn't be able to save me). These past 3 chapters were pushed out really quickly for my writing speed, but as school resumes soon, I most probably will be slowing down a bit. Next time: graduation exams. Enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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"Clone jutsu!"

Three perfect replicas of me immediately appeared.

"Good job, Hikaru. You pass!" Iruka-sensei said as he tossed me a shiny new headband, engraved with the all too familiar leaf symbol of Konoha.

Finally, after so long, I finally graduated!

The last part of our graduation exam was to perform a clone jutsu, a very basic illusion ninjutsu. The written part of the exam had already ended the day before. It was easy. I had finished the paper before the other students had even gotten halfway through. A little too easy, maybe. But it didn't matter, I passed my exam!

"Looks like we both passed" Hinata walked up to me with a smile on her face.

We waited at the entrance of the academy as more of our classmates exited the examination room with a headband each.

"Hey, congratulations guys…" said Naruto, in a rather depressed tone. "... I didn't pass…"

"Don't worry, there's still the next test" replied Shikamaru.

"But I really wanted to pass this time!"

"But there's nothing we can do now, is there? Well then, see you later, guys" said Shikamaru as he left.

He was right, there was nothing we could do about it. But if I remembered correctly, Naruto did graduate in the end. Something was supposed to happen that night. Or something like that. So it didn't bother me too much.

Hinata and I went home straight after. We had to meet at the academy for team placements in three days and we had tonnes of paperwork to fill out. There were forms about security and identification, important stuff. Better to finish them as soon as possible.

To celebrate our graduation, there was slightly more food at the table during dinner. Dinner was a silent affair, as usual. We never talked about anything. Nobody smiled. It was times like this that I wished I was still back in my world.

A year ago, Hanabi and Hinata had a duel to decide the clan heir. It wasn't between me and Hinata like it was originally planned. Apparently, they thought Hanabi was tougher and more capable than me. So they replaced me with my little sister. Ultimately, Hanabi won. But I still believe that Hinata had let her win.

Since that day, father had been acting cold towards Hinata, too. Well, colder than before.

The next day, we had our ID photos taken. It was a really simple ID, our name, date of birth, rank, village of origin and, of course, our photographs were displayed on it. After we handed in all relevant paperwork, we had the rest of the day to ourselves.

I isolated myself for the next two days to train. I had been practising a new jutsu and I was so close to mastering it. It was not an easy technique to learn, but I had to teach it to myself as I wasn't even supposed to know how to do it. I had to learn it all from memory.

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Naruto opened the door loudly as he walked into the class, a gigantic smile plastered on his face.

"Naruto, what are you doing here! Only those who passed can be here!" said an annoyed Ino. After all the pranks he pulled around the village, who could blame her for feeling that way.

"See this?" Naruto pointed to the Konoha headband he was wearing. "This means I passed! Iruka-sensei gave it to me"

"It's not giving if you stole it Naruto. You should know better than that!"

"Hey! I didn't steal it! It's true! Iruka-sensei gave it to me after I…"

"Quiet down class!" Iruka-sensei walked into the classroom. "Congratulations guys, as of today, you are all shinobi of Konoha. The road ahead will be tough, but worry not, as long as you persevere, I believe each and every one of you will become great ninja!"

"Now, thirty-six of you passsed the test. So we will be splitting you into three-man squads. Each squad will be assigned to a Jounin instructor. You are to listen to everything your instructor says from this point on."

"Now, team one will be..."

I wondered which team I would be put in. Who would my team mates be? Would I be put in team eight? After all, they were all trackers, and I was a Hyuuga. But so was Hinata.

"And team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hikaru Hyuuga. Team eight will be Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame"

Wait what? Hold on. Me? In team seven? Wasn't Sakura supposed to be there, instead of me? Why was I put into this team? And, what's going to happen to Sakura?

"Team ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi"

If I'm in team seven, then how much was going to change? Then again, I guess it wouldn't make that much of a difference… right? I wonder which team she was put in though.

"… and Sakura Haruno will be team twelve."

Oh

"What? Iruka-sensei! Why does an awesome ninja like _me_ have to be on the same team as _him_?" Naruto pointed at Sasuke.

"Quiet, Naruto! Each of these teams were formed to balance out your capabilities. Sasuke had the best practical score, Hikaru had the best written exam score, while _you_ , had the worst overall score." and the class burst into laughter.

Trust Naruto to embarrass himself like that…

Well, at least that explained how team seven was formed.

"You will meet your Jounin instructors here after lunch, don't be late!"

I dragged Naruto along with me for lunch. Hinata prepared some food for us, and her cooking was _delicious_.

That was when I saw Sasuke, sitting alone at his desk.

I went over to him. "Hey, Sasuke, want to join us? Hinata prepared extra food just in case. After all, we're team mates now, can't keep ignoring me forever."

He looked at me like he was making a life-changing decision.

After a few seconds, he finally gave in," Why not, I got nothing to lose anyway."

Yes! Success at last!

"Great come on then!"

Sasuke was far from being sociable, but at least I managed to get him to eat with us. Any progress with Sasuke was appreciated. Next stop, getting those two to work together. That's going to be hard.

After lunch, we returned to the classroom to wait for our sensei to pick us up.

We waited.

And we waited.

All the other teams had already left, even Iruka-sensei had left for a meeting. But our Jounin sensei was still nowhere to be seen.

Naruto was getting restless. He ran around the room, searching for something interesting. It was getting a little annoying, all the banging of cupboards and slamming of drawers.

In the end he stuck a blackboard eraser between the door and its frame.

Sasuke looked at the door from his seat.

"Naruto, our sensei is a Jounin, an elite ninja. Even Iruka-sensei won't fall for that."

"That's right." I added "You should get that down before you get us into trouble"

At that moment, the door slid open, and the eraser fell down and hit a head of white hair.

Oh no.

"Ah ha! You fell for it! Serves you right for being late!"

Silence.

"My first impression." He stared at Naruto, then at the two of us. "You are idiots"

 _Nice going, Naruto…_

"Meet me at the roof, _now_." and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I remember him now, the Jounin sensei of team seven, from before. Kakashi was his name. One of the strongest Jounin in Konoha. And wielder of a lone Sharingan eye, which I had unfortunately forgotten how he obtained.

Sasuke grunted and made his way out of the classroom, and I followed suit. And Naruto walked right behind me.

The rooftop provided quite a nice view of the village centre. It was a large open space with a few chairs. But we sat down on the floor, while Kakashi-sensei was on a railing.

"Great, now lets introduce ourselves. Come on"

"Uhh, what are we supposed to say?" Said Naruto.

"You know, your name… your likes and dislikes… hobbies… and your dreams for the future." There was a slight pause. "Why don't I start, hmm?"

"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake, I don't feel like telling you my likes and dislikes… my hobbies… I have a few of them… and my dream… haven't really thought about it."

Well that certainly wasn't informative, the only thing we got from that was his name…

"Alright, you, the bright orange one" He gestured to Naruto.

"Umm, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, especially the ones they sell at Ichiraku Ramen. What I dislike is the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the hot water in. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen, and then comparing their tastes. My dream, is to be the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen!"

"Okay, you there, mister gloomy"

Sasuke grunted.

"My name, is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like anything and I dislike many things. I don't have a dream… I have an ambition, and it's to rebuild my clan and kill a certain someone."

Wow… I already knew what his goal was, but hearing him say it in person… it was a little bit disturbing.

"Your turn, white-eyes."

"Well, my name is Hikaru Hyuuga. I like reading and I dislike… people who arn't nice to others. My hobby is… training and my dream is… uhh…"

What was I supposed to say? To save the world? To make things right?

"I haven't actually thought about it yet"

"Well then, now that we know each other, I'm going to tell you what we're going to do tomorrow."

"What is it? What is it? Are we going on an adventure? A mission?" That Naruto, always so impatient…

"Oh… It's a mission alright…" I swear I could see him smirk under his mask, "It's a survival mission"

"More training? Aww come on!"

"Oh, this isn't just any training, it's a test"

"A test? But haven't we already passed our graduation exams?" I asked.

"Yes, but you arn't Genin just yet. You have to do another test, a final test, to see if you have what it takes to be a full-fledged shinobi. See, out of thirty-six students, only twelve of you will pass. Yes, it only has a 33% passing rate. The rest will be sent back to the academy, or dropped from the program entirely, if we deem it necessary."

Hmm, a test they conveniently forgot to mention, eh?

"Meet me at training ground seven at 5am tomorrow." He said as he turned to leave. "Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast tomorrow, else you throw up."

And we were alone on the rooftop.

"Okay then, see you guys tomorrow." I said as I got up "And I strongly suggest you have some breakfast."

"But Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat" Naruto sounded confused.

"Well, we're ninja now, arn't we? As ninja, we have to get used to having this kind of situations. You don't want to faint in the middle of training because of an empty stomach, do you?"

Well _I_ certainly didn't want to faint.

"Oh, okay then, see ya tomorrow!"

.

* * *

.

It was still dark when we got there.

Naruto and Sasuke both looked very tired. Well, it wasn't their fault that we had to meet at the training grounds at five in the morning.

"Did you guys have breakfast?" I asked.

"Yeah, I don't want to faint or anything." Naruto said.

"Mhm" was Sasuke's reply.

"Good, I guarantee you won't regret it!" not having breakfast? I wonder what kind of trick Kakashi-sensei was trying to pull. As ninja, we would have to be able to stomach anything, be it gruesome trainings or mangled bodies. What was he trying to do?

Half an hour later, I started to get bored. Kakashi-sensei still hadn't arrived, and I had the feeling that yesterday was not the last day he was going to be late.

Well, I might as well spend my time wisely.

I looked over at the others. They seemed to be sleeping. Training ground seven cointained a large empty field surrounded by trees. There was also a river on one side. I walked over to the river. It wasn't flowing too fast, so I guessed it would have to do.

I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the river, carefully focussing chakra at the bottom of my feet. Since I had already mastered wall and tree walking, I though I might try out water walking. Each of these were increasingly difficult stages of chakra control exercises.

For wall walking, all I had to do was focus chakra at my soles. For tree walking, it was a little trickier; too little chakra and I would fall off, too much chakra and the bark would shatter, also causing me to fall off.

But water walking was on a whole other level of difficulty. Water is constantly moving, never staying still. The amount of chakra at my soles would have to be constantly changing, too, to match the water underneath them. One wrong move and I would fall into the cold water.

I stood there, just over the water. I didn't move for over a minute. The water was still too cold for me to fall in, and I was afraid that if I took another step, I _would_.

"Hey, Hikaru! How are you doing that! That's so cool!" It was Naruto. So he had found me, huh? Well, I wasn't really trying to hide from him anyway.

"It's simple actually, I just build up a little chakra at my feet. I can even walk up a tree using this trick."

If it was that simple, then why was I still standing that like a stone?

Move dammit, you shouldn't be afraid of a little cold.

"Wow! Can you teach me?"

"Uh, sure, why not? But let's start with something easier." Maybe then he would let me concentrate. I explained the workings of tree walking to him.

"Try walking up that tree over there, all the way to the stop." I pointed to a reasonably tall tree.

"Okay! Hehehehehe!"

Now that Naruto had been dealt with, I mind went back to the training.

"Come on, slow steps. Don't be scared of a little cold. You're a ninja now, don't let a river scare you."

Great, now I was talking out loud to myself.

I took another deep breath and stepped forward. Hmm, I didn't fall in.

Satisfied with my progress, I went faster. That's it, I'm walking on water!

And then I tried jumping on water.

 _Splash!_

I was drenched.

I was probably going to need some more practice before I try anything other than walking…

.

* * *

.

Kakashi-sensei finally arrived, hours after the sun had risen.

"Hey kids, good morning" He smiled.

"You're late!" Naruto almost screamed, while perched on a tree branch.

It seemed like Naruto had somehow gotten Sasuke to try out tree walking while I was practising. He leaped off an adjacent tree.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to… nevermind." He probably sensed our impatience.

"All right then." He took out a rather large alarm clock and set it down on a rock, it showed half-past ten on its face "This clock is set for noon. You have until then to get these bells from me. Simple, right?"

He held out two small silver bells.

"But there are only two bells, and three of us." Sasuke said.

"That's right, it's so that at least one of you will be sent back to the academy, and will also not get to have any of these." Kakashi-sensei held out a bag of lunchboxes.

"So that's why you told us not to eat!" exclaimed the furious Naruto.

Kakashi-sensei only smiled in return. So that was his plan.

One and a half hours, that should be enough time to get the bells.

"Oh, and you had better come at me with the intention to kill, or you can keep dreaming about getting these bells."

"I'll show you 'intention to kill'!" Naruto launched himself at our sensei, kunai in hand.

In a moment, Kakashi-sensei was gone. And by the next, he was behind Naruto, twisting Naruto's arm so that the kunai was now at his own neck.

So that was a Jounin, he's so fast.

"My my, how impatient. I haven't even said 'start' yet." he let go of Naruto.

"Let's try again then, shall we? Ready… Start!" We immediately fled to the cover of trees.

We would need a plan if we were to take the bells from someone that strong.

 _Byakugan!_

I felt a surge of chakra to my eyes as the world around me changed.

With the Byakugan, I had a near 360 degree field of vision, except for this small blind spot somewhere at the back of my neck. Not only could I see in all directions, I could see them all _at the same time_. It felt weird the first time I used it, being able to see in front of and behind me at the same time, as well as above and below. I could also partially see through any solid object not protected by some sort of special visual seal.

It also allowed me to see chakra, giving it colour, which was different shades of blue, while everything else was in grayscale. I could also identify the 'owner' of the chakra I see, allowing me to see stuff like who cast a ninjutsu or genjutsu, or if a specific person had been somewhere.

I could also see the chakra pathway and tenketsu of every person. It only made my gentle fist technique all the more deadly.

I could currently see about 100 metres in every direction, the result of endless training. Sasuke was a few trees to my left, while Naruto…

Naruto was in the midst of leaping towards Kakashi-sensei.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Seven Narutos appeared.

Amazing! Unlike the ones from the clone jutsu, these clones were corporeal – they had actual chakra pathway systems, just like the real thing. _That_ was Naruto's signature technique.

But it was no use, Naruto was eventually caught in a trap, with one of the bells used as bait. Kakashi-sensei was talking to Naruto, when multiple shuriken flew straight out of nowhere towards him, and hit him square in the back.

A puff of smoke and a log appeared where Kakashi-sensei used to be. A replacement. He was now out of sight of the two boys.

 _But not me!_

I used body flicker to launch myself across the open field to the trees on the other side.

 _Got you!_

I landed next to Kakashi-sensei and immediately went for his tenketsu.

One, two, thr-

Before I could land a third hit, Kakashi-sensei's fist connected with my stomach and he headed out into the open.

It hurt, having the air knocked out of my lungs, but I knew I was at least fast enough to land a few blows. I followed him out.

If he didn't before, then he definitely knew by now that there was no hiding with a Hyuuga around. He must have believed that defending from us in the open would be easier.

"Good job there, all of you. I guess I can't go easy on you anymore then." He lifted the Konoha headband which was covering his left eye, revealing a Sharingan. Deep down inside, I was laughing at Sasuke's shocked expression. He definitely didn't see that coming!

With the Sharingan, virtually every movement would be in slow motion for him. He would also be able to copy and memorise any jutsu we do. Not that we actually knew any jutsu he didn't already know.

Naruto made a few clones and they immediately lunged at Kakashi-sensei, who dodged the barrage of punches.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke sent a giant ball of fire at Kakashi-sensei.

Once again, he evaded the attack, but not before the fireball hit several of Naruto's clones.

Sasuke then threw a few shuriken at Kakashi-sensei.

He deflected them all.

While he was busy, I sensed the opening and went for it.

"Vacuum palm!" I thrust an open palm at my surprised sensei. A moment later, he was knocked off his feet.

Success!

I had learnt the vacuum palm attack when I discovered how to do the eight trigrams palm rotation. The palm rotation was only taught to the clan heir, which was Hinata at that time, So I was forced to learn it on my own, in secret. Since both techniques required the user to expel large amounts of chakra, I learnt the vacuum palm while practising the palm rotation, to get used to the feeling. And it couldn't hurt to have one more jutsu at my disposal.

Though the vacuum palm was a simpler version the palm rotation, it didn't have the latter's defensive capabilities. So vacuum palm was more often utilised as a mid ranged attack, giving us gentle fist users the extra reach we normally didn't have.

"Sasuke! The three of us are a team, so no hurting Naruto, not even his clones!"

A grunt was Sasuke's reply. Why did he like to grunt so much?

I realised we weren't going to get the bells by taking turns to attack Kakashi-sensei. This was probably to test our teamwork: if we would be able to work together despite knowing that one of us would fail.

"Guys, we have to work together if we want to have any chance of getting the bells. You two can have the bells if you want. But we have to work together!"

"So what do you suggest we do." Sasuke asked. He was actually listening to me?

Naruto was now looking at me, too.

"Okay then, Naruto, can you make some more clones?"

"Yeah!"

"Make about ten, more if needed. Get them to distract Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke and I will get in close for the bells, got it?"

They both nodded.

"Let's go!"

A dozen Narutos appeared and they all rushed towards Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke and I bolted for the trees. Kakashi was currently near the edge of the clearing, so it would be easier for us to sneak up from the forest side.

Using my Byakugan, I was able to run while watching the action. For every Naruto popped, two more replaced him. Naruto was doing a good job of keeping Kakashi busy. It didn't seem like he had noticed we were missing at all.

Once we were in position, we waited. We waited for the perfect opening.

When a Naruto popped right in front of sensei's face, we used the small puff of smoke to keep him from seeing us.

Sasuke released a barrage of shuriken, forcing Kakashi-sensei to evade them at the last second. Subsequently, I leapt from a tree branch and executed a drop kick, aimed at his waist.

Sasuke and I were now taking turns to hit Kakashi-sensei, while at the same time, trying to reach for the bells. Though he blocked every blow, Kakashi-sensei was forced to defend himself.

As Kakashi blocked a kick by Sasuke to his face, I took the chance.

"Vacuum palm!" I shot at his waist.

The bells flew off his belt under the force and landed next to Naruto, who picked them up.

The battle stopped.

"Well then, Naruto, who's getting sent back to the academy?" asked Kakashi-sensei.

There was a tense minute of silence. Everyone was staring hard at Naruto, wondering what his next move might be.

Suddenly, Naruto threw both bells onto the ground.

"This is insane!" He said, "Either all of us are passing this test, or none of us gets to become Genin!"

"So, would you two like to take the bells then?" he turned to me and Sasuke.

We both shook our heads. Naruto was right, we're a team, so we either pass as a team or we'll just fail as a team.

"Congratulations then, you passed!"

"What?" said a confused Naruto.

"I said you passed!"

"But… who passed?"

"All three of you did," Kakashi-sensei then proceeded to explain. "See, the aim of the test, was to see if the three of you could work together even when you knew that one of you, any one of you, would fail. It was to test your resolve to complete the mission despite knowing the consequences. As shinobi, teamwork is very important. Your ability to work as a team can mean the success or failure of a mission. Only by putting your team ahead of yourself, can the mission be a success."

Kakashi-sensei walked over to a decorated rock.

"This stone, has the names of shinobi honoured as heroes carved on it"

"Oh cool! My name's going to be on that stone one day, too!" Naruto yelled.

I face palmed, "Naruto…"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"This stone contains the names of those who have died for the sake of the village," Kakashi continued, "The names of some of my closest friends are on it…"

Naruto's expression changed when he realised what the stone was for.

"Well then, that's enough of sad things for one day," Kakashi said, "Meet here tomorrow at 7am for your first training. Congratulations on passing."

.

* * *

.

 **Author's Notes:** Longer chapter than the last few, wanted to squeeze them together. So, I put Hikaru in team 7 and I booted Sakura. It just seemed like the best choice to me. And it _would_ be easier to write about team 7. I changed the number of graduates and eventual Genin a little, the original numbers felt too small for a village of that size. And I'm not very good with writing combat, but I hope you like it.


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